Back to Basics: Cleansing & Exfoliating
We live in it everyday, we look at it in the mirror, the reflection in our phone screens, take selfies of it but how often to we take CARE of it? I am talking of course about our skin! I decided to go back to fundamentals of skincare just to make sure there is a forum for my clients, you the readers and anyone in between who wanted basic answers on basic skincare questions. So let’s begin at the beginning!
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The Skincare Routine
Some simple notes to take:
Wash your face twice a day, in the morning and again at night before bed. Why? In the morning your rinsing off the debris your body excreted during sleep and waking up the skin. At night, you are removing dirt and debris, makeup and other environmental friends we pick up and prepping the skin to receive ingredients from your product and repair damage from throughout your day.
“If you wash your hair, your teeth and your body with different products, why wouldn’t you for your face?”
Once you start cleansing twice a day, you’ll notice changes in your skin. The texture should improve and the dewey look we all want should start coming into focus, and stay there regularly. To make sure that you are getting these results, it is important to also use the right cleanser. Just because you have a pimple once a month or an oily shine does not mean you need an acne cleanser!
Use this guide (all images from this segment can be found on my Pinterest @Eri The Esti ). I typically keep two to three cleansers in rotation at any given time; one to take off my makeup that is creamier, a foamy one which I use in the morning and night, and one that is slightly exfoliating for the evening in lieu of my exfoliant or if my skin needs a little extra.
Now, that does not mean you need three cleansers! One is just fine! Just make sure that it is appropriate for your skin, targets your concern (i.e. oily, dry, premature aging) and that you use it regularly. Take a look at the chart in this image, it lists the skin types and which cleanser type is appropriate. Knowing your skin type is important, if you don’t know it we determine it by the time of day you notice and oily shine and visible pore size. No matter what skincare company you choose, they all have these basic types of cleansers: foamy, creamy, clay based. Having a clear idea of which type of cleanser is for which skin type, you’ll know what to buy from any company!
The next step in your skincare routine is exfoliation. Please make note again, not all exfoliants are to be used everyday and you do not necessarily need to exfoliate everyday. Follow the instructions your esthetician gave you when you purchased your exfoliant, and read the directions on the package, it’s usually on the box and rarely on the actual product. I can’t stress enough that over exfoliation is not better than no exfoliation. Depending on your skin (are you sensitive, prone to breakout or dry patches) will determine what products you need
So how do we know which one we need? There are several different varieties so I will go over general principles but these are flexible and your own option is unique to you.
From the top there are scrubs, which are great for a rough texture, just make sure it is gentle enough for the face skin and not meant for rough body skin. Skin Script makes two facial scrubs, one safe for pregnant woman that comes as a duo, and the other contains 2% Retinol and can double as an exfoliating mask.
Wipes are great, also found in a pad, and are typically going to be saturated in an exfoliating solution. This tend to fall more on the anti-aging or oily skin categories. I personally love Skin Scripts Glycolic Pads for a quick and efficient exfoliant. Arbonne also makes a pretty amazing one in their anti-aging line Re9. You wipe it all over cleansed skin, leave it on and then apply serums followed by moisturizer. This is similar to a makeup wipe, but don’t confuse them! A makeup wipe, or makeup remover is not going to exfoliate your skin, it will however dry it out. Just use a double cleanse process at night to remove all your makeup.
Enzymatic masks are similar to a mask in which you apply to cleansed skin for 10-15 minutes and then remove with warm towel/cloth but how long exfoliating masks stay on vary by mask so read the label. For more on enzymes visit this page. Alana Mitchell Skincare has a lovely Pumpkin Brightening Mask that falls in this category. These are like a once a week exfoliant and I like to use them the day before a big event when I want to glow. Acids, hopefully you cannot purchase any esthetic or medical grade as you can seriously damage skin, but they do make quite a few “supplements” on the market to add in to your skincare routine. One company that comes to mind is The Ordinary, they have a whole bunch of acid mixtures that work kind of like a serum brightening or hydrating your skin.
Also, I want to make a note here that using harsh exfoliants like acids too much can thin your epidermis out, leaving you with a paper thin skin later in life, so use with caution. The most common acids are:
Glycolic (anti-aging)
Salicylic (acne/oily)
Lactic (brightening, all skin types)
Last on my list, but definitely not the last option for exfoliation are peel off, gommage. This is the kind that you apply like a mask, let dry and it will have a rubbery or latex like feel when you go to peel it off. I have used one of these professionally and one non-professionally so I will share both.
These ones are probably not as easy to find, I have no recommendations for you on this one. There are some product lines that create masks that are meant to act similar to this. Think of the blackhead masks that you let dry on your skin and then you can like “pull” the blackhead out by removing the mask. I did get one once, it was a blackhead exfoliating mask that came in my Ipsy bag. I tried it on my T-zone where I have a collection of blackheads that typically come out pretty easy. However, this mask did not work. It left dark mask residue in my follicles, making it look like I had even more blackheads and did nothing to the ones that were there. Like I said, I don’t have any good recommendations for this type of exfoliant…
Remember that with skincare you are looking for quality, and now-a-days it comes in all prices, not just expensive. Let these Back to Basics blogs be your guide to making the most educated skincare decisions. Ask questions, try new things but in moderation, and get excited about your self care. Just don’t startle your skin by constantly shocking it with too many new products!
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri